97 Orchard: An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families in One New York Tenement Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I heard the author of this book on NPR and wanted to know more about the topic.I found this book fascinating.It shared many insights into life in the tenements of New York in the late-19th and early-20th centuries, most especially about the foodways of the immigrants.It was fascinating to read about the different groups and the "exotic" foods that they ate--some of which have become staples of our modern American diets.One small complaint was that I felt the book ended a bit abruptly.I think even a short conclusion or epilogue would have added to the book's closing.

If you do read this book, I'd also recommend looking up the website of the Tenement Museum in New York, which now occupies 97 Orchard Street.You can see addtional photographs and additional details about the lives of the families profiled in the book.

The Kindle formatting was good.The pictures mainly seemed to translate well, although some were small.But judging by a reviewer of the hardcover, this was also the case in the paper book.

The price was a bit high for a Kindle book, but I decided it was worth it for such a fascinating glimpse into the lives of our ancestors.

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Cider Beans, Wild Greens, and Dandelion Jelly: Recipes from Southern Appalachia Review

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(More customer reviews)"My place, in the midst of this abundance of nature, is back in a mountain hollow on a bad dirt road surrounded by forest, wild blackberries, mountain critters, wildflowers, a few neighbors, and a passel of 'dawgs.'"

So writes Joan Aller, author of this season's must-have cookbook, "Cider Beans, Wild Greens, and Dandelion Jelly: Recipes from Southern Appalachia."

And it's not like Joan Aller is an East Tennessee native who's walked the Appalachian trail with the likes of Bill Bryson or South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford. She's from the West, and might be living there still but for urban sprawl and environmental ugliness. So she first moved to Nashville, which is very much a city, and then further East.

Joan Aller is an artist by profession and fearless by nature. No soon had she painted her mailbox than she was off, photographing barns and bridges and learning the ways of her new neighbors. That led quickly to food --- and five years of research. At the end, she had gorgeous photographs of Southern Appalachia, luscious photographs of Southern food, and 8,000 pages of recipes and history.

The good news is that Ms. Aller and her editors put her work on a diet. The result is a 212-page book that was extravagantly handsome until my wife and I started dog-earing the pages. Silly us --- we want to cook almost everything here. Our only non-starters: Appalachian wine, root beer and --- no kidding --- moonshine.

See if just the names don't make you look at your watch to see if it's time for some meal or other:Kentucky "hot brown" (turkey-bacon-Colby cheese sandwich drenched in Tabasco-spiked milk gravy), Mississippi Sin (French bread, cream cheese, cheddar cheese, cooked ham, sour cream, accented with sweet onion, bell pepper and Worcestershire sauce), Butternut Squash Soup with Sweet Tea and Ginger, George Washington Carver's Sweet Potato Pie, Bourbon Sweet Potato Casserole, Corn Cob Jelly, And a dip made of equal parts chopped sweet onion, grated cheese and mayonnaise, baked for 25 minutes at 350.

And....but you see the problem --- with the possible exception of boring old blue cheese balls, this book rocks like the Allman Brothers.

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Product Description:
There are many cookbooks about Southern cooking, but precious few celebrate the southern Appalachian food that has sustained mountain folk past and present. Thankfully, we now have Joan E. Aller's Cider Beans, Wild Greens, and Dandelion Jelly.
Featuring more than 150 recipes for down-home, soul-satisfying dishes, Cider Beans, Wild Greens, and Dandelion Jelly is more than just a cookbook. Complete with passages on the history, places, and people of southern Appalachia, along with lush full-color photography of the food and scenery of the southern Appalachian Mountains, Cider Beans, Wild Greens, and Dandelion Jelly serves as both a cookbook and a guided tour of the local lore, traditions, and culture of this uniquely American region.

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